Mystery discovery sends Sterling Township supervisor on records sweep for 1937 will

STERLING – Something didn’t square in the records that Angie Schneider was examining last summer.

Nothing intentional. Just an oversight.

One that was eventually resolved with a make-good payment of more than $24,000.

But we’ll get back to that.

Schneider was fairly new to the role of supervisor for Sterling Township when she discovered that interest earnings from a $5,000 bequest “to help poor people at the hospital” hadn’t been distributed in the past 20 years.

The only problem was that the paper trail was seemingly at a dead end.

“The people that had been here, knew something about it,” Schneider said.

In the old days, she said, the information had been passed along verbally. But she had to have documentation before she could move forward.

That’s when Schneider put on her detective hat.

“We started looking through the records,” she explained. “We found the original will.”

Turns out that in 1937, Annie F. Russell had made an estate gift to Sterling Township.

According to Schneider, Russell was born in Como in 1855, and died in 1936. She is buried in Riverside Cemetery – the marker still exists.

The will said she left part of her estate to her cousins and her friends.

She had no children and one brother, Charles, who also did not have any children.

“We started looking through the records. We found the original will.”

—  Angie Schneider

Annie and Charles’ father was Charles Nash Russell, originally from Massachusetts. He settled in the village of Como adjacent to the Rock River in 1847 and became a prominent storekeeper and landowner.

He married Julia Sampson, who also moved to Como from Massachusetts with her family.

From that $5,000 was supposed to be payments made to the Sampson Room at the former Community General Hospital – now CGH Medical Center.

Schneider said she picked up the phone, but no one at CGH knew what the Sampson Room referenced – other than it was the maiden name of Russell’s mother.

The next communication went to Joan Hermes, executive director at CGH Health Foundation. Could the foundation use the gift?

“What a great phone call that was,” she said in a news release about the exchange. “Of course, I said, ‘Yes.’ ”

The foundation sponsors programs that help people in need – from providing transportation, routine medical examinations, eyewear, dental care and even scholarships. In that, the work of the foundation seemed to be in keeping with the original bequest.

Starting in August, Schneider started the process to resolve and finalize the transfer of funds to the foundation. This required the stamp of approval from the foundation board, some legal assistance, and eventually the approval of the courts.

The final exchange took place the next week. Schneider presented Hermes with a check last week. Because of interest on the account, the full amount was $24,374.60.

The gift will go toward the foundation’s annual appeal, whose goal is $475,000, Hermes said.

“Anna Russell generously gave to help others, and almost a century later, her legacy lives on,” Schneider said.

For information on the foundation and its work, visit cghmc.com/Foundation or call 815-625-0400, ext. 5672.